Heavenly Sword Developer: Ninja Theory Publisher: SCEA Genre: Action Console: PlayStation 3 Beneath the "new-gen" skin of Heavenly Sword is a game we have all played before. Wave after wave of enemies attack and you are supposed to kick their ass in ever more stylized ways. So what does it bring to the table to help revolutionize the action/hack and slash genre? The answer: not much. You are Nariko, the unwanted daughter to the chief of a peaceful clan. You are the "savior", a warrior who will be able topple the evil Bohan, who has relentlessly pursued your people in search of the sacred Heavenly Sword. No man can wield the sword because it was created by the Gods, but Nariko is no man. Putting her own life at risk, she takes the Heavenly Sword deep into Bohan's land where she must confront his many minions. Check out the animated series here, which attempts to bring more depth to the game. The game is very much about presentation. One of it's strengths is it's ability to fluidly cut between gameplay and cut scenes. Scenes are sometimes cut into Picture-In-Picture cinematics that don't disturb the gameplay but deliver some kind of pivotal information. Another element that boosts Heavenly Sword's production value is the character and voice work. These are amazing. Most of the characters feel fully realized with the exception of a few stereotyped villians. Andy Serkis, better known as Gollum, gives the one dimensional character of Bohan a truly intense performance. All the characters in Heavenly Sword were animated using real actors and motion capture technology and it really does pay off. The nuanced expressions on Nariko's face bring a much needed sense of depth to what could be a rather stale action title. The environments are gorgeous but the game does suffer from some frame rate issues. When characters are running their movement can seem a little jerky. However, it does handle massive amounts of characters on screen much better than a game like Lair. As opposed to wave after wave of 3 to 5 enemies, you will be forced to deal with a large amount of attackers. During the opening tutorial of Heavenly Sword, you are given this little bit of advice, "mashing buttons will help you recover more quickly, mash buttons now". As tight as the controls do feel, it ultimately does settle into just being a button mashing game. You are given three stances, speed, distance and power. Each stance has a corresponding color, which the enemy also has when they are attacking you. If you aren't attacking you will stay in a defensive stance, but you have to be sure you are in the correct stance to block an attack. Blocking and counter attacks are extremely important. If you successfully execute a counter attack, you will be rewarded with an exciting finishing move. These are very rewarding, but the controls just aren't tight enough to make you feel like it isn't an accident each time you pull one off. The enemies will also change between different colored attacks so quickly that it's difficult to get into the proper blocking stance in time. And since you can only do these finishing moves after a successful block, you find yourself waiting to be attacked, just so you can block and then counter attack. This wouldn't be a problem if the enemy A.I. wasn't so bad. Enemies will wait, sometimes up to twenty seconds, before attacking - even with you standing right in front of them. As you make you way through the game, you will also take control of of Kai, a kind of sidekick to Nariko whose weapon of choice is a crossbow. Kai's missions bring a welcomed break to all the hacking and slashing. Once you have fired an arrow, you can take control of it using "aftertouch", which is controlled with the SIXAXIS. This is the best use of the SIXAXIS controller to date and once you get used to it, steering arrows into the various body parts of enemies is blast, especially since they react appropriately to each place they are wounded. Another big part of Heavenly Sword is the appearance of the ever more popular mini-game system. Instead of using platforming, where you actually move your character through the obstacles, these are now done with a series of button combinations. These are fine, but they require a lot of trial and error and pop up in unusual places you might not be ready for. The sequences they are embedded in are so elaborate and fun to watch, you sometimes forget you might have a button press coming up. These mini-games also get tucked into some new finishing moves, but until you realize it, you have already missed the opportunity. Overall, it feels a little to random. The other mini-game element to Heavenly Sword are the many "puzzles" you will be tasked to figure out. Let me give you a hint, it involves throwing a hat into a gong. This makes full use of the "aftertouch" system, but there is no fun in knowing exactly how every puzzle is solved. If you see a box of hats, there is a gong somewhere that will open a door. Just in case this seems to confusing, the guys over at Penny Arcade create a perfect digagram. Boss battles don't feel as exciting as they should given the epic nature of this title. Once you figure out what their attack is, it's very easy to evade and then attack. This would also be more fun if the blocking controls where tighter. Heavenly Sword might not be the game Sony hoped would make PS3's fly of the shelves but it is definitely a solid addition to the sparse library of games. Even with these minor complaints, and it's very short 7 - 10 hour gameplay time, Heavenly Sword is very enjoyable. It adds a few new features to the genre, but nothing revolutionary. If you are a fan of God of War, you will definitely feel at home with Heavenly Sword since it's similarities are almost to numerous to count. Nariko may be the savior of her people, but Sony may have to wait just a little bit longer.